Variant healing is my biggest beef, but it's more that what's called variant is not the normal one and the one we have now is the variant one. With Covid flaring up we're back playing digitally otherwise I was planning to impose the slow healing variant on my campaign. The way it is now it makes no sense to have injured npc's ruining good rp opportunities, in game reasons or even create a sense of fear for the safety of beloved npc's. Making damage a binary choice between outright killing an npc or they'll be fine tomorrow that half severed leg will just grow back overnight. I would love to have this enabled. Not even touching what it does to the cockiness of players.
I chose to be disruptive but only because using this site for actual play is frustratingly difficult when compared to just using pen-and-paper and I can't understand why anyone would choose to use it for anything other than reference.
One of my best friends is not the fondest of D&D and never has been. To paraphrase her:
“It’s called a ‘character sheet'.’ It’s not a ‘character dossier,’ or a ‘character pamphlet.’ There’s only supposed to be one piece of paper, that’s why it’s singular. And the back of it should be blank for notes and inventory. If playing D&D takes three times as many pages than it should, then step one in solving that problem is figuring out why. Oh, wouldj’a look at that. There’s probably the issue right there, the 'core rulebook’ for D&D has three times as many volumes than it should. That makes sense, if they got rid of two thirds of the rules I would probably only hate it one third as much.”
‘Rei my friend:
You know how I keep insisting that most friction that occurs at the table is because people are just at the wrong tables? She and you should never play D&D together. You think D&D should be more like Pathfinder, and she thinks it should be more like Werewolf: The Apocalypse 2e, because any TTRPG more complicated than that “has done it wrong.”
Imagine if WotC took about ⅓ of the rules from each of the PHB, the DMG, and Xanathar’s Guide, handed it to an executive who defined a TTRPG as: When a handful of people get to hang out and tell a story together. Then, everyone once in a while you might have to fight something, or do something supernatural. that’s when the players get to have fun with, like, a little mini game for each of those.”
The game was so “narrative/story > rules/mechanics” that the whole first third of the book was for Storytellers (GMs) and was really all about telling a story. It didn’t explain how to make a character until the section for players after that. And then imagine if they said that was pretty much the whole game right there. -Le Fin-
She tried and couldn’t with 2e and 3/ 3.5es. She consented to try it again this edition and hated it the least of all, in fact she actually kinda liked it, but was still frustrated with the character sheet and how poorly organized it is. She has point blank stated that the only reason she has continued with 5e for as long as she has (a li’l over a year) is because of DDB’s character builder/sheet and how much less unbearable it makes D&D for her.
I've played my fair share of WoD revised and 2nd. It was hilarious to us as we were playing 2nd edition at the time and WoD is a munchkins wet dream made flesh due to any coherent rules that are not easily broken. We still played it for a long time to destress from long and deadly ad&d campaigns but the only time I've seen a worse combat system is for Monster of the Week. Both should be socially driven rp games but due to bad rules/no rules/rules light they become carnage incarnate.
Variant healing is my biggest beef, but it's more that what's called variant is not the normal one and the one we have now is the variant one. With Covid flaring up we're back playing digitally otherwise I was planning to impose the slow healing variant on my campaign. The way it is now it makes no sense to have injured npc's ruining good rp opportunities, in game reasons or even create a sense of fear for the safety of beloved npc's. Making damage a binary choice between outright killing an npc or they'll be fine tomorrow that half severed leg will just grow back overnight. I would love to have this enabled. Not even touching what it does to the cockiness of players.
It isn't that severed limbs grow back overnight but rather that there is no normal mechanism for severing limbs. However if an abnormal method is used (sword of sharpness, torture method on someone incapacitated, whatever), a long rest only restores hit points. This is why Regenerate is a 7th level spell.
Sure if they leave the leg 'half severed' it would likely heal, since still attached, but why go with the half measure? And you could rule that 'half severed' is a condition that takes longer to heal. They still have full hit points but not yet full use of the leg, or even necessarily partial use.
That isn't something any normal character sheet would recover (although you could check some mech combat RPG character sheets, perhaps). It is just a note.
My usage of leg half severed was hyperbole to underline the ridiculousness how fast everybody heals. Loss of limbs is, indeed, another matter.
... frustrated with the character sheet and how poorly organized it is.
I've had plenty of groups where nobody used the same character sheet back in the olden days. If the DDB character sheet makes that much of a difference to your friend, it's probably not the organization (which, to stay on topic, I'd personally change but can't on DDB) but the relative ease of use from the built-in functionality.
Also, when I say "pen and paper" that really includes digital files - a document in a word processor is just as flexible as writing on an actual, physical sheet of paper (and can be changed without an eraser). My DM notes and prep typically end up typed and then printed out, simply because it's easier to create clean, legible documents that way. Office doesn't put any constraints on the content though, that's the point.
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Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
I chose to be disruptive but only because using this site for actual play is frustratingly difficult when compared to just using pen-and-paper and I can't understand why anyone would choose to use it for anything other than reference.
One of my best friends is not the fondest of D&D and never has been. To paraphrase her:
“It’s called a ‘character sheet'.’ It’s not a ‘character dossier,’ or a ‘character pamphlet.’ There’s only supposed to be one piece of paper, that’s why it’s singular. And the back of it should be blank for notes and inventory. If playing D&D takes three times as many pages than it should, then step one in solving that problem is figuring out why. Oh, wouldj’a look at that. There’s probably the issue right there, the 'core rulebook’ for D&D has three times as many volumes than it should. That makes sense, if they got rid of two thirds of the rules I would probably only hate it one third as much.”
‘Rei my friend:
You know how I keep insisting that most friction that occurs at the table is because people are just at the wrong tables? She and you should never play D&D together. You think D&D should be more like Pathfinder, and she thinks it should be more like Werewolf: The Apocalypse 2e, because any TTRPG more complicated than that “has done it wrong.”
Imagine if WotC took about ⅓ of the rules from each of the PHB, the DMG, and Xanathar’s Guide, handed it to an executive who defined a TTRPG as: When a handful of people get to hang out and tell a story together. Then, everyone once in a while you might have to fight something, or do something supernatural. that’s when the players get to have fun with, like, a little mini game for each of those.”
The game was so “narrative/story > rules/mechanics” that the whole first third of the book was for Storytellers (GMs) and was really all about telling a story. It didn’t explain how to make a character until the section for players after that. And then imagine if they said that was pretty much the whole game right there. -Le Fin-
She tried and couldn’t with 2e and 3/ 3.5es. She consented to try it again this edition and hated it the least of all, in fact she actually kinda liked it, but was still frustrated with the character sheet and how poorly organized it is. She has point blank stated that the only reason she has continued with 5e for as long as she has (a li’l over a year) is because of DDB’s character builder/sheet and how much less unbearable it makes D&D for her.
Yeah, I played a lot of WoD back in the 90's and even still run a game from time to time. but seems like the character sheet is not really were the problem lies. It sounds to me like they just don't like D&D. That is fine. Not everyone has to like the same things or even in the same ways. I just think that a lot of people expect more from a fully automated character sheet than can actually be delivered for the same price point as DnDBeyond. Myself included.
Variant healing is my biggest beef, but it's more that what's called variant is not the normal one and the one we have now is the variant one. With Covid flaring up we're back playing digitally otherwise I was planning to impose the slow healing variant on my campaign. The way it is now it makes no sense to have injured npc's ruining good rp opportunities, in game reasons or even create a sense of fear for the safety of beloved npc's. Making damage a binary choice between outright killing an npc or they'll be fine tomorrow that half severed leg will just grow back overnight. I would love to have this enabled. Not even touching what it does to the cockiness of players.
It isn't that severed limbs grow back overnight but rather that there is no normal mechanism for severing limbs. However if an abnormal method is used (sword of sharpness, torture method on someone incapacitated, whatever), a long rest only restores hit points. This is why Regenerate is a 7th level spell.
Sure if they leave the leg 'half severed' it would likely heal, since still attached, but why go with the half measure? And you could rule that 'half severed' is a condition that takes longer to heal. They still have full hit points but not yet full use of the leg, or even necessarily partial use.
That isn't something any normal character sheet would recover (although you could check some mech combat RPG character sheets, perhaps). It is just a note.
My usage of leg half severed was hyperbole to underline the ridiculousness how fast everybody heals. Loss of limbs is, indeed, another matter.
My point remains. If you want a scenario where an injury matters, have a scenario where an injury matters. It is a thing that can be done.
Sure but we are talking about dndb. I don't see a burning desire to make this a 10 page discussion.
Heh. I mean, I wouldn't mind. But yeah. One thing I've definitely noticed - players are much more rarely inclined to clamor for/tolerate rules that make them less powerful. Epic Boons, Dark Gifts, Draconic Gifts, Supernatural Gifts, Christmas Gifts, Whatever-Else Gifts? Those things players will scream for until they're blue in the face. Things that make it harder to heal, things that make combat more dangerous, things that make acquiring resources more difficult? Nobody ever seems to want those. Heh, I'm honestly a little surprised we ended up getting the inventory rework - and even that was plagued with "why is DDB wasting resources on this when I can't properly implement my special Theros superpowers yet?" backlash.
It's a little sad, because I'd love to run/play a game of D&D that cuts back some on the rampant superheroics, especially in mid to high levels. Everybody says it's impossible to challenge higher-level characters whilst busily throwing out all the optional rules that put the brakes on character power and allow DMs to more easily challenge higher-level characters...it's like people carping about making travel interesting whilst busily throwing out all the logistics rules that make travel interesting. Like...man. There's so many cool things people could do with some of these optional rules, if they were easier/possible to use in DDB
The only one of the choices mentioned I couldn’t find in the books was spell points? Where is that listed? Or is it just a variation of the sorcerer’s sorcery points?
Spell Points are in the Spellcasting section of the DMG, I believe. And yes, all of these are in the books. They're also things that are either difficult or impossible to do on a DDB character sheet. Which was much the point of the thread. Am I misunderstanding your confusion, Mayhem?
No, you didn’t misunderstand. I found all of the others in the DMG, I just couldn’t find spell points. I found them now though, they are in the DMG under the section detailing how to modify a class.
Yes, I would love if all of these options were available. I’d love if I got to play a game that used any of them, especially the healing variants and lingering injuries. I’m not a fan of the gritty realism variation where you only long rest once a week, but I definitely think healing should be a little harder. As is stands the medicine skill and healing kit are usually useless, although I did once have a character that made it work. But that was because I was the only full healer. Also, constant combat should have consequences outside of the off chance of three failed death saves.
I like the idea of spell points. Maybe for all casters? But definitely for a few like sorcerers to distinguish them better from wizards.
Variant healing is my biggest beef, but it's more that what's called variant is not the normal one and the one we have now is the variant one. With Covid flaring up we're back playing digitally otherwise I was planning to impose the slow healing variant on my campaign. The way it is now it makes no sense to have injured npc's ruining good rp opportunities, in game reasons or even create a sense of fear for the safety of beloved npc's. Making damage a binary choice between outright killing an npc or they'll be fine tomorrow that half severed leg will just grow back overnight. I would love to have this enabled. Not even touching what it does to the cockiness of players.
I've played my fair share of WoD revised and 2nd. It was hilarious to us as we were playing 2nd edition at the time and WoD is a munchkins wet dream made flesh due to any coherent rules that are not easily broken. We still played it for a long time to destress from long and deadly ad&d campaigns but the only time I've seen a worse combat system is for Monster of the Week. Both should be socially driven rp games but due to bad rules/no rules/rules light they become carnage incarnate.
My usage of leg half severed was hyperbole to underline the ridiculousness how fast everybody heals. Loss of limbs is, indeed, another matter.
I've had plenty of groups where nobody used the same character sheet back in the olden days. If the DDB character sheet makes that much of a difference to your friend, it's probably not the organization (which, to stay on topic, I'd personally change but can't on DDB) but the relative ease of use from the built-in functionality.
Also, when I say "pen and paper" that really includes digital files - a document in a word processor is just as flexible as writing on an actual, physical sheet of paper (and can be changed without an eraser). My DM notes and prep typically end up typed and then printed out, simply because it's easier to create clean, legible documents that way. Office doesn't put any constraints on the content though, that's the point.
Want to start playing but don't have anyone to play with? You can try these options: [link].
Yeah, I played a lot of WoD back in the 90's and even still run a game from time to time. but seems like the character sheet is not really were the problem lies. It sounds to me like they just don't like D&D. That is fine. Not everyone has to like the same things or even in the same ways. I just think that a lot of people expect more from a fully automated character sheet than can actually be delivered for the same price point as DnDBeyond. Myself included.
She/Her Player and Dungeon Master
Sure but we are talking about dndb. I don't see a burning desire to make this a 10 page discussion.
Heh. I mean, I wouldn't mind. But yeah. One thing I've definitely noticed - players are much more rarely inclined to clamor for/tolerate rules that make them less powerful. Epic Boons, Dark Gifts, Draconic Gifts, Supernatural Gifts, Christmas Gifts, Whatever-Else Gifts? Those things players will scream for until they're blue in the face. Things that make it harder to heal, things that make combat more dangerous, things that make acquiring resources more difficult? Nobody ever seems to want those. Heh, I'm honestly a little surprised we ended up getting the inventory rework - and even that was plagued with "why is DDB wasting resources on this when I can't properly implement my special Theros superpowers yet?" backlash.
It's a little sad, because I'd love to run/play a game of D&D that cuts back some on the rampant superheroics, especially in mid to high levels. Everybody says it's impossible to challenge higher-level characters whilst busily throwing out all the optional rules that put the brakes on character power and allow DMs to more easily challenge higher-level characters...it's like people carping about making travel interesting whilst busily throwing out all the logistics rules that make travel interesting. Like...man. There's so many cool things people could do with some of these optional rules, if they were easier/possible to use in DDB
Please do not contact or message me.
The only one of the choices mentioned I couldn’t find in the books was spell points? Where is that listed? Or is it just a variation of the sorcerer’s sorcery points?
Spell Points are in the Spellcasting section of the DMG, I believe. And yes, all of these are in the books. They're also things that are either difficult or impossible to do on a DDB character sheet. Which was much the point of the thread. Am I misunderstanding your confusion, Mayhem?
Please do not contact or message me.
No, you didn’t misunderstand. I found all of the others in the DMG, I just couldn’t find spell points. I found them now though, they are in the DMG under the section detailing how to modify a class.
Yes, I would love if all of these options were available. I’d love if I got to play a game that used any of them, especially the healing variants and lingering injuries. I’m not a fan of the gritty realism variation where you only long rest once a week, but I definitely think healing should be a little harder. As is stands the medicine skill and healing kit are usually useless, although I did once have a character that made it work. But that was because I was the only full healer. Also, constant combat should have consequences outside of the off chance of three failed death saves.
I like the idea of spell points. Maybe for all casters? But definitely for a few like sorcerers to distinguish them better from wizards.